


The Fountain of the Lovers

by TwirlsWrites



Series: Force Myself to Write 2018 Edition [4]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, With a twist because Aliens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-09
Updated: 2018-09-09
Packaged: 2019-07-08 21:17:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15938474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwirlsWrites/pseuds/TwirlsWrites
Summary: The crew is visiting a planet for the Federation. The planet has the unique sensation of having soulmate-identifying-marks: “When you meet your truest companion, the universe aligns and etches your meeting to your body." This is kind of a problem for Jim.





	The Fountain of the Lovers

“Welcome to Marnellis, Captain. We are honored to welcome representations of the Federation to our home,” the ambassador greeted after the landing team touched down. Jim nodded with his standard smile, surprised when the Ambassador extended a hand to him.

“We are happy to be here, Ambassador. The Federation welcomes you and sends us for discussions,” he said, returning the handshake.

“We have had many Earth immigrants in the past few decades,” The Ambassador told him, tilting her head slightly. “We have heard much of the Federation. My name is Alrana.”

“I am Jim Kirk,” Jim said. “This is my First Officer, Commander Spock; and My Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Leonard McCoy.”

“Pleasure to meet you all,” Alrana said, tilting her head towards each. “These are my security companions - Kasha and Arnevin. Our Queen wishes to meet with you, but is willing to wait until you settle into your quarters for the week if you would prefer.”

“That’s quite alright,” Jim said. “We’d be happy to meet her now, and beam down someone our supplies later.”

“Wonderful, please come this way.” Alrana said, turning.

As they walked through the field towards what Jim could only assume was the royal quarters, the crew took the time to observe the Marnellins. They appeared similar to humans - but with an almost andorain-blue skin, sharper teeth, purple hair, and white chrystalin-looking horns extending from the tops of their heads. The Ambassadors were thin and curled upwards, while the security officers were small and pointed for one, and curved up for the other. As they walked, other Marnellins could be seen passing by - each horn shape different.

The land reminded Jim of Iowa - grassy fieldswith few trees in the distance - paved with large shining stones. The sky was a lighter blue than he had ever seen - and gradiented into a soft yellow.

Soon they were in a large office, and a beautiful woman with elegantly curved horns had risen and was walking towards them.

“Hello,” she said. “I am Queen Jranin, welcome to Marnellis.” she said, extending a hand as Alrana had.

“These are Captain Jim Kirk, Dr. Leonard McCoy, and Commander Spock,” Alrana said with a smile. The queen smiled back and touched the other Marnellin’s arm for a second.

“It is an honor to have you. We have many humans among us and our physiology is quite similar so our medical officials are eager to learn about recent medical breakthroughs,”

“Our Doctor is the best for that,” Jim assured her with a smile. She nodded.

“Please, sit, we have much to discuss.”

 

“They seem nice,” Jim said, some hours later in his quarters while Bones waited for him to change into something dressier for their dinner. He itched at his wrist, “They know a lot more about humans than we know about them, though.”

“I was talking to one of their doctors, Karana, she said that a few decades ago they had a mass influx of humans, with a small but steady immigration since. I assume that’s why the ‘fleet sent us here, they want to make sure everything’s above board.”

“Is it?” Jim asked, pulling his shirt on.

“Seems to be,” Bones agreed. “Nothing excessive in their mortality records, they’ve managed to manipulate a strain of their standard planetary vaccinations for the human system.”

“You still seem grumpy,” Jim pointed out. “I mean more than usual.”

“Ha,” Bones replied. “I’m still concerned. I’ve got a bit of inflammation on my wrist that’s bugging me, I’m wondering if their atmosphere is too dry. Maybe we should recommend a creme.”

“You just got down here, Bones - there’s a chance it takes more than a day to adjust.” Jim said, rolling his eyes.

“Don’t think I didn’t notice you scratching at your own wrist, Jim.”

“Well that’s two of us, maybe it’s something on the ship,” Jim allowed.

“Or maybe the harm of scrambling our molecules every few days is finally catching up,” Bones muttered darkly. Jim sighed.

“Come on, we were invited to dinner at the Head of Commerce’s house tonight.”

 

The night had started out with a bit of a surprise as they realized that the Head of Commerce was married to a human, a former earthling whose family had moved planets over twenty years ago. Uhura, who had beamed down once they learned that the language was fluid, had instantly gotten into a deep conversation on dialects as Bones entertained the kids and Spock and Jim fell into discussion with The Head of Commerce - Jarasha.

Jarasha was just making a point on trade negotiations in the southern region, reaching up to push some hair from his face, when Jim caught a glance as his arm where his sleeve fell back a little. There was a Federation Standard script there. Jarasha caught him looking.

“Captain?” he said.

“I apologize,” Jim replied. “I just noticed the tattoo on your arm.” Jim shook his head, meaning to go back to the discussion but Jarasha laughed. It was a deep, pleasant sound and as he did so he pushed up his sleeve until the tattoo was fully visible. It read, oddly enough ‘I am so sorry, please excuse me’.

“This is not a tattoo, Captain,” Jarasha said. “It is my mark with Elizabeth.”

“Like a wedding ring… a marker?” Jim asked. Jarasha and his wife wore rings as well, but perhaps that was in deference to her Earthly heritage. Jarasha shook his head.

“No. On our world, there is a spiritual concept called _Shijenin._ I believe a rough similarity on your planet would be… spirit… no - Soulmates. Yes, many humans refer to it as such,” Jarasha said, idly correcting himself. “It is said that when you meet your truest companion, the universe aligns and etches your meeting to your body. This is what my dear Elizabeth first said to me,” he said with a fond smile. Elizabeth, hearing her name, walked over.

“My ears were burning, darling,” she said.

“Ah - the good Captain was unfamiliar with _Shijenin_ ,” Jarasha told her, pressing a kiss to her cheek. Elizabeth smiled widely.

“Oh! Gosh, I’m surprised the Ambassador didn’t bring it up. _Shijenin_ are a big deal on our planet,” Elizabeth said. She rolled up her sleeve and Jim saw the curving script of the Marnellin language on her arm. “I literally ran into Jarasha when we met. Mine says, ‘oh, are you alright miss?’” she told them with a soft smile.

“I apologize,” Spock said with a frown. “Is it not species-based?”

“No,” Elizabeth told him. “It’s spiritual of course, but when more earthlings started joining the Marnellin people, they began manifesting as well. It’s not common, even for Marnellin-purists.”

“I believe the last estimate was 15% of the population manifest a _Shijenin_ mark,” Jarasha said. “You never know until you meet them and the words appear.”

“Fascinating,” Spock said.

“You should ask Ambassador Alrana about it tomorrow,” Jarasha told them. “She loves telling all of the old myths.”

“On earth there’s the myth from the ancient philosopher Plato who said that Human Beings once had four arms, legs, ears and eyes ; but the gods were so jealous that they struck them to two and every human searches for their other true half,” Jim said. Spock arched one of his eyebrows ever-so-slightly. 

“The _Shijenin_ is similar,” Jarasha told them.

“Ah, but you should probably finish up work talk before philosophy,” Elizabeth said. “I know how hard you worked on the stew, honey.”

“Of course,” Jarasha said, sending her a dopey smile as she walked away. He cleared his throat, “As I was saying, the eastern….”

 

————

 

The following morning after a shower, Jim noticed that his wrist was no longer red and he pushed up the sleeve of his bathrobe. “ _I may throw up on you,”_ his arm read.

holy shit.

Jim ran back to his room, stumbling over to grab a uniform and throw it on as quickly as possible before taking off across the hallway to bang on Bones’ door.

“Jim what the hell,” Bones grumbled, throwing open the door to glare at him. Jim pushed past him and spun the doctor around, reaching for his sleeve. ‘ _I think these things are pretty safe’_ his arm read.

“Holy shit,” Jim repeated, unable to stop his wide smile.

“What the hell?” Bones repeated, pulling his arm back and staring at it. “Isn’t this what you said to me on the shuttle?”

“Yeah,” Jim said.

“Why are you smiling like that?” Bones asked warily.

“ _Shijenin_ ,” Jim told him.

“Shi-wha-now?”

“We’re soulmates!” Jim said. Bones frowned at him, his irritated look starting to turn concerned.

“Jim, are you feeling alright?” he said.

“It’s something with this planet!” Jim told him. “It tells you when you meet your soulmate, but we’ve already met so it just reminded us!”

“Jim, I’d never be your soulmate,” Bones told him, arching his eyebrows. “Don’t be stupid, no diety would be cruel enough to saddle someone with you.”

“What?” Jim asked, breath freezing. Bones held his arm back up, it was blank.

“Also, you’re asleep,” Bones told him.

“What?”

“Wake up, Jim.”

“Wait!” Jim yelled, jolting awake. He scrambled for purchase, having thrown himself off of the nest of pillows that functioned as a standard Marnellin bed.

“Jesus, Jim!” Bones said. Jim looked up to find his friend standing there with two steaming cups. “Rough night?”

“What was in that stew,” Jim groaned, pulling himself to a stand.

“Your arm is still inflamed,” Bones said with a familiar frown. He sat down the cups on the small table and stepped forward, “let me take a look at that.”

“No!” Jim exclaimed. Bones paused for a second, eyebrows going up.

“No?” he repeated drily. “Damnit Jim, I’m a doctor.”

“I just slept on it weird,” Jim said, shuffling backwards. “And I need to get cleaned up. What time are our meetings?”

“0800 - you have about an hour,” Bones told him. “You’re twitchy, are you sure you’re alright?” he said as Jim scooted around him to grab a uniform shirt from where he had left it folded.

“I’m fine, Bones,” Jim said, rolling his eyes even though his back was to the doctor.

“I’m getting my tricorder,” Bones said firmly, leaving the room.

Jim hurriedly changed his pants and grabbed his shoes to take off down the hallway before the doctor could return. He ducked into a small sitting area and pushed his sleeve up. His arm was still red, skin a bit rough, but if he looked closely it did seem to be surrounding some words. Jim pushed down his sleeve before he could tempt himself to look.

 

“Captain Kirk?” It was Ambassador Alrana, hovering in the entrance to the small alcove he had found. She tilted her head. “Are you alright? You had been sighted looking distressed.”

“I am fine Ambassador, I apologize if I caused anyone any distress,” he said, offering a smile. Her head remained titled and he saw her eyes look to where he was still clutching his wrist with his other hand and she tilted her head to the other side.

“Are you injured?” She asked, stepping closer.

“No,” Jim assured her. “Really, I’m fine.” The ambassador nodded and walked away without another word. Jim was just about ready to count his lucky stars when she returned, holding a small bag.

“Many are unprepared for words when they appear,” she said quietly. “ _Shijenin_ are rare enough, but for some they’re inconvenient… and private regardless.” She sat next to Jim and pulled out a small container and a roll of cloth that looked like old-style bandages from the bag. “If you’d like, I could assist you?” Jim slowly nodded.

“If you would be so kind,” he said. She nodded and motioned for him to roll up his sleeve. Jim looked away as she rubbed a cool salve over it.

“Humans are known to be very private,” she said. “I apologize for not having anticipated something along these lines. Goodness, you must have very sensitive skin!” She added with a small laugh. Jim felt the roll of cloth - very soft - begin to be rolled securely over his arm. After a few seconds, she patted his shoulder a bit awkwardly - it wasn’t a standard Marnellan action if Jim recalled correctly, she must be making an effort to comfort him how bad did he look? - and stood.

“Thank you,” Jim told her sincerely, finally facing forward again. She tilted her head again and smiled.

“Of course Captain. I will see you at the meeting, it’s just down this hallway to the left,” she said. With that, she left once more. Jim sighed, leaning back against the wall and looking down at his now-wrapped arm. If he kept his sleeves down no one would notice the bandage, and now even he couldn’t be tempted to look at what it said.

He delays long enough to be able to hear the meeting room fill up. He hears Spock’s steady stride and Uhura’s clipped one beside it. He hears the queen’s team ahead and behind her, and he goes in before he hears Bones - who, now that he’s thinking about it, may actually still be looking for him.

“Good morning Captain,” the Queen greeted him as he arrived. “Did you find your accommodations to your liking?”

“Yes your highness, thank you very much,” he told her with a smile. “Everything is magnificent.”

“Wonderful. We’re just waiting on your doctor and our economist to begin,” she said. Even as she spoke the door opened once more and Bones entered, looking a bit disgruntled but only to someone who knew him as well as Jim did. He very carefully avoided eye contact as Bones took a seat further down the table.

“Actually Ambassador Alrana,” Uhura spoke up. “Last night at dinner Jarasha mentioned that you tell the story of _Shijenin_ the best. I was curious about how far back it occurs in your history.”

“Oh yes Alrana, do tell the old story,” The Queen said. She reached out and touched the other Marnellan’s arm for a moment and the Ambassador smiled.

“Of course, I should have anticipated with Jarasha and Elizabeth being a sweet as they are. _Shijenin_ pre-date our written records. I believe the closest translation to human mythos - if you’ll excuse me Mr. Spock - would be soul mates. The legend goes that at the very conception of our world, there were two Marnellans named Alorsha and Mahor, they were deeply in love,” Alrana began, “The early community was fractured by drought, and the people split into two groups to further explore and expand the lands. Alorsha and Mahor were separated, as each was an important member of the different communities. They were heartbroken but knew what needed to be done for their people, and promised to find one another again. Years later, the capital city was founded and as it began to grow the two communities gathered and the lovers were reunited. In celebration of their spirits’ compatibility and dedication, the fates marked them with the words of their reunion. This is the origin of our _Shijenin_ marks - the fates want to make sure you know that you have met your destined right away.”

“When you meet your truest companion, the universe aligns and etches your meeting to your body,” the Queen added, unknowingly echoing Jarasha’s words from the previous night. Jim risked a glance over to where Bones was sitting. The doctor was frowning, looking confused as he idly scratched his arm.

“There is a well-known ballad,” the Marnellan economist who had joined them halfway through the tale said. “But it’s best heard to full accompaniment.”

“Malora I didn’t even hear you come in,” Ambassador Alrana exclaimed. “I suppose we should get started then, yes? I had some questions about the provision in section two…” the meeting quickly began and stayed upon official topics and Jim felt himself relax. Marnellis was a beautiful planet, but the longer he was here the more likely it was that something related to these _Shijenin_ things would end up sabotaging his relationship with the whole crew, not just Bones.

For the rest of the day talks remained centered around Starfleet’s ideals and how Marnellis felt about them. And by the end of the night an agreement had been made. After a bit of handshaking Jim begged off for a breath of fresh air and a walk, making his way along a path in the courtyard that led to a small pond with a fountain where he took a seat beneath a large, leafy, very pink tree.

“You know,” Bones voice drifted over as the man himself walked closer, sitting beside him. “According to Kasha, this fountain is know as the fountain of the lovers - after Alorsha and Mahor.”

“No kidding?” Jim said, opening his eyes to find Bones looking directly at him.

“What the hell Jim?”

“What?” Jim asked, straightening up.

“You took off this morning like you were a cat stuck in a room full of rocking chairs,” Bones said. “Because I asked about your arm, and then I find out about all this romantic soulmate nonsense that no one bothered to tell me about last night, and then you avoid me all day.”

“Bones,” Jim said with a sigh.

“I’m not done yet,” Bones said firmly. He nodded down to Jim’s arm. “What does it say?”

“I don’t know,” Jim said with another sigh. At Bone’s doubtful frown Jim pulled up his sleeve to show it wrapped up. “I’m not… I don’t want to look.” He said quietly.

They sat quiet fort a few beats. Bones cleared his throat, looking almost anxious.

“So… based on how you were avoiding me and all… are you worried you know what it’ll say or that you don’t?” He finally asked. Jim looked down, picking at the edge of the cloth covering. He was quiet for a bit before replying.

“I guess I’m worried,” he said slowly. “That mine will say something and yours won’t.”

“You’re not worried about having my warning about puking on you written on your arm for the duration of our stay here?” Bones clarified with a wry smirk. Jim laughed and let himself get a little too honest.

“No,” he said. “Not if it’s you.” The last part was practically a whisper and he suddenly found it hard to look away from Bones’ wondering stare.

And then Bones was kissing him.

“Damnit Jim I’m a Doctor, not a mind reader,” he said, pulling away. “We could have been doing this for a long-ass time.”

“Well then let’s keep doing it!” Jim said, flustered. He pulled Bones in for another kiss but the doctor pulled away far to quickly after, fiddling with his sleeve. “What’re you — ?”

 _I think these things are pretty safe_ , Bones’ arm read. Jim stopped short, staring.

“Oh,” he said. “You do…” he reached out and touched the letters - they were almost a part of the skin, more like a tattoo than anything. He was smiling, he realized suddenly and he cleared his throat, trying to get his face back under control. “You cheated,” he said.

“Oh?” Bones asked with a smile that was a bit softer than he was intending.

“You knew before you made your move,” Jim said. “Not very bold, Bones.” Even as he spoke he was working on the bandage around his arm. Bones laughed.

“Bolder than you,” he pointed out. Jim snorted and Bones softened a bit, “Sometimes I don’t think you realize that you’re pretty great Jim. A pain in the ass maybe, but pretty great.”

“That’s almost as romantic as saying you might throw up on me,” Jim told him, looking away. “You’re in a league of your own Len, I just don’t know if I deserve having you around as a friend, forget more.”

“You’re an idiot,” Bones said. He leaned in to give Jim another kiss. “You’re stuck with me.”

“I guess so,” Jim said with a laugh. “Wouldn’t have it any other way.” Finally done with unwrapping his arm, he took a deep breath and turned it over.

 _I may throw up on you_ , the arm read.

“Never show that to anyone,” Bones mumbled, leaning forward to cover his face with his hands. “I forgot how embarrassing that was.”

“I love it, I’m going to show it to everyone,” Jim told him seriously.

“Oh God,”

“I’m never wearing sleeves again.”

“I hate you,” Bones said, voice muffled.

“No you don’t,” Jim said, grin unmistakable in his voice, “You love me.”

“Yeah,” Bones admitted, glancing up from his hands. “Yeah I do.”


End file.
